Some say Orlando shooter was a regular at club

Meanwhile, thousands gathered Monday night in downtown Orlando for a vigil to support the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

The wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub knew of his plans for the attack and could soon be charged in connection with the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, a law enforcement source said on Tuesday.

The man responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in US history was described by an ex-wife as emotionally unstable, had been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over potential terror links and pledged allegiance to the ISIS during a 911 call, sources say.

“We determined the contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or a threat at that time“, Hopper said.

Comey said tracking apparent lone wolf attackers like Mateen was like finding “needles in a nationwide haystack” while also trying to work out what kind of people could become radicalized.

But they never met – until early Sunday morning, shortly before Mateen opened fire with an AR-15, killing 49 and wounding 53 before he was killed in a shootout with police. He did a call on 911 (emergency number), saying he was undertaking the attack in the name of a number of groups, which suggested his world view may have been a little bit confused.

The son of Afghan immigrants, Mateen spent most of his childhood on Florida’s Atlantic coast and lived there as an adult, not far from his parents. “I can honestly say of all my students there were 2 that I knew they were going to grow up to hurt someone”, she said. But the chief said he chose to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest.

A former classmate told the Palm Beach Post that Mateen had asked him out on a date while they were in high school.

Salman’s mother, Ekbal Zahi Salman, lives in a middle-class neighbourhood of the suburban town of Rodeo, California. Of the massacre, Gilroy said, “I saw it coming”.

Three Democrats in Congress say it was “unacceptable” that gay and bisexual men weren’t able to donate blood after the shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub. “She was crying, weeping”.

But no mood of national outrage could survive long in the crucible of America’s 2016 presidential race, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seized his chance to launch an attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

“What exactly would using this label accomplish, what exactly would it change?”

“We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly”, Obama said. “It is not a strategy”.

During the course of three phone calls, Mateen pledged allegiance to the head of the Islamic State.

While there has been no official comment from the authorities on the claims, CNN and NBC said investigators were examining them.

“We first became aware of him in May 2013”. Looking at the gunman’s feet under the stall as he paces.

The American gunman who launched a murderous assault on a gay nightclub in Orlando was radicalised by Islamist propaganda, officials said on Monday (June 13), as they grappled with the worst terror attack on USA soil since 9/11.

Callen’s husband, Ty Smith, recalled seeing Mateen being escorted drunk from the club.

At least four regular customers of Pulse told the Orlando Sentinel yesterday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before.

“Untrue and totally ridiculous”, Sara Brady, a spokeswoman for club owner Barbara Poma, said in an email when asked about the claim.

And other club-goers told local media and MSNBC that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including Grindr, with mutual acquaintances to “hook up”. “And I somehow got out of it and I tried to tackle him”.